Space Fights

Space Fights

It’s silly.

It’s a movie.

It’s childish.

Isn’t it wonderful the things we tell people when we don’t have interest or appreciate something?

We boast, we brag, we announce how infantile a thing is because darn it, we don’t care about it so naturally it MUST be garbage and anyone who likes it is a brat. Naturally we say all of this while cuddling our football, or betting, or mowing our lawn, or whatever it is that WE have a passion for. Humans are a very myopic race. It’s part of what we are. We need to categorize things so we can better understand them and in the most base of ways know who is against us and who is for us. It’s something we still do and is just part of what we are. It seems so SILLY though that as a race we do it with EVERYTHING though.

It’s like we can’t let people find their own joy without giving commentary on it.

“Oh, wow, they like THAT, just, wow.”

The thing is that we all have our fetishistic loves and passions. We all have things that make us smile and give us a break from the stress of life. And oh, sure, there’s the notion that it’s all part of a consumerism that literally consumes us and drags us down as a species, and I can see that too, in a way. Anything that becomes more than a passion, becomes an obsession, becomes worrisome. But here’s the deal, we make our own way, we find our own value, and we have to find our own peace and joy. For some it’s lying on a beach, for others it fishing, or it’s writing, or singing, or whatever. Your joy, your passion, is yours. As long as it doesn’t harm someone or the world at large then it’s not really my business. Nor should it be anyone else’s. What’s funny is that the same people that get made fun of for being ‘nerds’ or ‘geeks’ about things turn right around and make fun of people into sports because they don’t like sports personally.

We’re all so ridiculous.

I hear time and again how people who dress up to go to movies or stand in line are losers. Losers who are doing this with friends, who are having fun, are invested in something, and who are doing something they love. Sure, it’s not something I do but so what? I don’t expect everyone do dig what I dig. I’m a weirdo who loves horror, loves toys, loves music, loves movies, and loves sports. I don’t make a lick of sense. That’s why I never get into arguments about movies or passions if I can avoid it because I know that I am a walking target and I am not better than anyone else. Nor are my passions.

The thing with passions though is that we start to resent people who have passions that burn brightly, so bright, so bright that it burns up our social media feeds and consumes our popular culture. We resent them not out of jealousy but out of a petty anger that something we don’t care about is filling the mouths and minds of everyone around us. And in a troll culture like we have now that burning passion is one that people use to light their torches so they can then incinerate the people with those passions, those people that annoy us so darn much.

The notion of a spoiler is not a new thing. It’s always existed and it’s been a constant battle between letting people discuss something, debate something, and vocally enjoy something and the notion of ‘giving too much away’ to those wanting to experience the thing. The notion of a spoiler is that it is stealing the discovery from someone for no reason than spite and meanness. Yes, people post spoilers without thinking, absolutely, heck I guarantee that I have done that, and that is what it is – enthusiasm. You can furrow your brow and get frustrated but it’s not fair to get angry because the person meant no ‘harm’. Ah, but there’s a lot of people who do mean to do everything they can to ruin an experience. They create memes, flame message boards, blurt things out, and do everything in their power to ruin an experience. And it’s not about their ‘right’ to because in the abstract we all have the right to say things whether we should or shouldn’t because America is a ‘free’ country. This is more about being an adult and not being petty and childish. We all want to discuss our passions and when something hits the pop culture more people will want to discuss it but in a culture where all of us are busier than ever and we have the opportunity to record television or films not everyone is caught up with everyone else. This doesn’t mean to coddle the world or not discuss something you are passionate about but it means that you should care enough about the people that have not experienced it not to just blurt things out carelessly. If you are a fan of it you should respect fellow fans enough to keep them in mind as you openly discuss things. I had a friend utterly ruin a movie because he wasn’t bothering to listen when another friend mentioned they had not seen a film. The response was a shrug. That happens a lot.

This is about more than ‘spoiling’ a film or something else, this is about the basic respect we give one another. This is about our need to be bullies to people we know and don’t know. And oh, we can cry foul and call people cry-babies when it’s not us. We can get mad that we have to cater our conversations to people we don’t know. We can do a hundred different things and will. Social Media has given us all an innate ‘right’ to say whatever we want and blurt out whatever deep thoughts we have. And it is what it is. Me blogging about something won’t make someone stop doing what they’re doing. It’s just another sad sign of a culture that’s become so antagonistic to one another. And yeah, a spoiler ain’t gonna ruin the world, and won’t harm someone but it also won’t do anything other than ruin the joy a person may take in a thing.

The things we love we want to experience ourselves. We want to see them unfold for ourselves. When I was a kid I was so invested in the Star Wars series, so in love with it, from the movies, to the toys, to everything in between. It was a magic world for me. There are some of us that still have that love for the films, and for other things. That part of us that remembers what it was like to be a kid and to discover things. I shouldn’t have to be banished from the internet indefinitely because I am not caught up with watching something. People should have manners. Ah, but what are those, anymore?

There is too little magic in the world. Too little joy. And there are too many bullies.

There are ways to discuss things without spoiling them. There are forums to discuss spoilers and plots in depth. There are ways to do things without being antagonistic. We just can’t find it in ourselves to respect one another and our passions, whether we understand them or not, enough to just leave each other to them. If you don’t get sports – don’t watch. If you don’t get sci-fi – don’t watch. There’s no need to badmouth or spoil something you don’t get or don’t care about because someone out there does care. Social media is everywhere. It’s not as easy as ‘avoiding’ spoilers when people post them everywhere. I shouldn’t have to police the world to behave themselves. We all have our passions, we all have our joys, so why the heck do we want to ruin things for one another when there’s no need to?

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Master of Scaremonies

Chris Ringler is an author, blogger, artist, and creator of odd events living in Flint, Michigan. He began writing as a teenager and has received two honorable mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror, has been featured in BareBone, Horrible Disasters, Horror Addicts Guide to Life,and Cthulhu Sex Magazine, and won Best In Blood on HorrorAddicts.com.

Look to the sky, find the darkest point, and that my friends is where you can find him…when he isn’t dropping beats with mermen.